I was hoping to have read at least the first book of the Three Body Problem trilogy prior to the tv series release, but I petered out after the first third, enjoying the concepts but being turned off by the flattest of characters. Fortunately, the screenwriters adapting the Chinese science fiction series into a Netflix tv show seem to have come from a similar mindset, borrowing the broad ideas and plot beats of the book whilst reworking almost everything else.
The biggest change is transplanting much of story from China to Oxford, with an international cast of scientist characters. Our story picks up in the present day (or very near future), where all the world's leading physicists are upset to learn the science is going wrong. All of their experiments are dysfunctional, as though the physics goes mad whenever anyone attempts to watch it. On top of that, a lot of the scientists are killing themselves in suspiciously similar circumstances. It falls to an irreverent detective, Da Shi, to figure out what the hell is going on.
So follows an often exciting intrigue which raises the stakes every episode. It is one of those satisfying stories where even after each twist is revealed, the story doesn't feel like it has shot its bolt and needs to draw to a conclusion; each revelation makes the story more exciting and more mysterious, keeping up the momentum right up until the end. What starts out a spooky slasher mystery rapidly evolves into a full blown cosmic horror, but a weirdly empowering one in which mankind is keen to spit in the eye of overwhelming powers beyond all comprehension.
Characterwise, the show improves on the book in that they have more flesh to them, but its characters still feel bog standard and unremarkable, the kind of functional but forgettable characters you get in typical sci-fi tv. There are some stand outs, Benedict Wong as detective Da is a pleasure, there is also a magnetising creepy femme fatale, and the anti-villain Ye Wenjie is such a compelling underdog that I kind of wanted her to succeed in all the horrific things she is reaping on mankind. In our first episode, we are shown a gratuitously violent scene in which Communist Red Guards beat Wenjie's father to death. It was necessary to set us up for a particularly cruel and unusual scene taking place a few episodes later; one lifted from the book that would completely stretch your credulity and taste had you not been prepared to see things get so extremely violent.
Like the best sci-fi, Three Body Problem is thematically rich, serving as a kind of Oppenheimer-esque exploration on how the achievements of science and innovation are used to inflict utterly horrific things in the name of a supposed greater good. Even if we agree it is for the best, it asks if we can still live with ourselves for allowing it; whether we deserve to.
I had a good time with the show, and unless you are a purist of the book series, you will too.
Series Science is a Liar, Sometimes!
I was hoping to have read at least the first book of the Three Body Problem trilogy prior to the tv series release, but I petered out after the first third, enjoying the concepts but being turned off by the flattest of characters. Fortunately, the screenwriters adapting the Chinese science fiction series into a Netflix tv show seem to have come from a similar mindset, borrowing the broad ideas and plot beats of the book whilst reworking almost everything else.
The biggest change is transplanting much of story from China to Oxford, with an international cast of scientist characters. Our story picks up in the present day (or very near future), where all the world's leading physicists are upset to learn the science is going wrong. All of their experiments are dysfunctional, as though the physics goes mad whenever anyone attempts to watch it. On top of that, a lot of the scientists are killing themselves in suspiciously similar circumstances. It falls to an irreverent detective, Da Shi, to figure out what the hell is going on.
So follows an often exciting intrigue which raises the stakes every episode. It is one of those satisfying stories where even after each twist is revealed, the story doesn't feel like it has shot its bolt and needs to draw to a conclusion; each revelation makes the story more exciting and more mysterious, keeping up the momentum right up until the end. What starts out a spooky slasher mystery rapidly evolves into a full blown cosmic horror, but a weirdly empowering one in which mankind is keen to spit in the eye of overwhelming powers beyond all comprehension.
Characterwise, the show improves on the book in that they have more flesh to them, but its characters still feel bog standard and unremarkable, the kind of functional but forgettable characters you get in typical sci-fi tv. There are some stand outs, Benedict Wong as detective Da is a pleasure, there is also a magnetising creepy femme fatale, and the anti-villain Ye Wenjie is such a compelling underdog that I kind of wanted her to succeed in all the horrific things she is reaping on mankind. In our first episode, we are shown a gratuitously violent scene in which Communist Red Guards beat Wenjie's father to death. It was necessary to set us up for a particularly cruel and unusual scene taking place a few episodes later; one lifted from the book that would completely stretch your credulity and taste had you not been prepared to see things get so extremely violent.
Like the best sci-fi, Three Body Problem is thematically rich, serving as a kind of Oppenheimer-esque exploration on how the achievements of science and innovation are used to inflict utterly horrific things in the name of a supposed greater good. Even if we agree it is for the best, it asks if we can still live with ourselves for allowing it; whether we deserve to.
I had a good time with the show, and unless you are a purist of the book series, you will too.